UEFA Europa Conference League Final: How West Ham’s compact defence and attacking realism helped defeat Fiorentina – tactical analysis

West Ham United have just lifted the UEFA Europa Conference League at the Eden Arena in Prague after beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final game of the tournament, making it the first-ever UEFA Europa Conference League title for the Hammers and their third European trophy overall. On the other hand, Fiorentina failed to finish their excellent European journey with glory despite finishing in the eighth position in Serie A, which cannot be considered as a failure since the team was facing some big teams like Napoli, Milan, Lazio, Inter, Roma, and Juventus.

Therefore, we can say that this was a successful season for Fiorentina despite failing to qualify for a European competition and even reaching this final was an achievement in itself. This does not mean that the team should be happy losing the final, yet they can be proud of what they achieved in this competition and build on this journey to perform even better next time and use this experience to not repeat the same errors.

This tactical analysis article will explore how David Moyes’ tactics helped West Ham beat Fiorentina and to lift the title after being 1-1 until the 90^th minute. The analysis will also try to identify what prevented Fiorentina from winning and what was lacking in their performance.

Lineups

Fiorentina started the game using their 4-3-3 formation with Pietro Terracciano as a goalkeeper, Dodô, Nikola Milenković, Luca Ranieri and Cristiano Biraghi in defence, Sofyan Amrabat as a defensive midfielder, Giacomo Bonaventura and Rolando Mandragora as central midfielders, Nicolás González and Christian Kouamé as wingers while Luka Jovićwas the team’s striker.

On the other hand, West Ham relied on the 4-2-3-1 formation with Alphonse Areola in goal, Vladimír Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Emerson Palmieri in defence, Tomáš Souček and Declan Rice as central midfielders, Jarrod Bowen and Saïd Benrahma as wingers while Lucas Paquetá played as an advanced playmaker behind the striker Michail Antonio.

Fiorentina’s failure: the positives and the negatives

While West Ham shot seven times on goal and scored twice, it should be noted that Fiorentina shot 13 times on goal and scored only once, and this in itself shows that Fiorentina didn’t have the finishing quality needed to be decisive against a tough defence like West Ham’s. In fact, Fiorentina missed numerous chances and lacked the experience to deal with such opportunities in the best possible way. Fiorentina’s key players in attacking transition were Bonaventura, Biraghi, who joined the attack so often, and both wingers. These players helped the team exceed West Ham’s first defensive line and reach the final third in a more recurrent way but then the team didn’t really have some clear ideas of how to overcome West Ham’s defensive line.